


Saving Sakura (Naruto Rewritten)

by PrinceKapitan



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Gen, One-Sided Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, POV Haruno Sakura, Sakura Falls Out of Love With Sasuke
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29902389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceKapitan/pseuds/PrinceKapitan
Summary: Sakura Haruno had been falling behind mentally after the loss of her teammate. After becoming a Chunin and the return of her teammate Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura feels she's ready to make another attempt at saving Sasuke. But with the terrifying Akatsuki making their move on the village and Naruto's anxiety for his turncoat teammate's well being getting the better of him, Sakura now finds herself wondering what she can do in all of this.This is a rewrite of Naruto (mostly Shippuden). Like my Miraculous Rewrite, I do plan on making quite a few changes to the story.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura/Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru/Temari, Rock Lee/Tenten
Kudos: 8





	Saving Sakura (Naruto Rewritten)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a few key differences to note. First off being that unlike in the anime where Sakura (for no reason other than the writing called for it) was asked to stay in Konoha while everyone else went after Sasuke, she ends up coming along, determined to do something. So she's with the team when they face the Sound Four. On the one hand I get it, she was outclassed be even the injured Rock Lee by that point, but on the other I feel her coming along and realizing she was outmatched would have better tied into her motivation to become stronger. So I had her be part of Shikamaru's team.
> 
> But no one had faith in her right? Well yes, but that's the idea. While I get they did this with Choji and it worked fine, I feel it would've worked just as well with Sakura. Though unlike Choji, Sakura really stood no chance against any of them by herself. I had Naruto have faith in her because he's Naruto and because Sakura is his teammate and he loves her.
> 
> And instead of Naruto fighting Kimimaro, Sakura fights him despite standing little to no chance against him, which let's face it, Kimimaro was on a whole different level, if even Gaara struggled with him (while he was dying of tuberculosis no less) then Sakura honestly had no shot of beating him in a head on fight.
> 
> Lastly, Sakura finds Naruto instead of Kakashi and meets up with her sensei after the fight between Naruto and Sasuke. She insists on carrying him home (which of course Sakura was absent so Kakashi did that too).

“Sakura, thank you.” Those words would often go through Sakura Haruno’s head, taunting her. She could do nothing to stop Sasuke Uchiha. Even deciding to follow him on his path of darkness. 

Even though she went with the team to retrieve him, only her teammate Naruto Uzumaki really had faith in her. Everyone else agreed she was a burden, and they were quite possibly right. If it hadn’t been for Naruto insisting she come along, she’d have likely been left behind. She had put it in her head that she only hurt the team.

Losing Sasuke quite clearly had an impact on Naruto, quite possibly more than it did her. She wasn’t there to see it, having been forced to fight Kimimaro, while Naruto pressed on to confront Sasuke.

It was terrifying, being that close to death. Kimimaro was formidable and most definitely would have killed her. Her prior Team 7 missions saw her in danger a few times, but her fight with Kimimaro was the first time she had been truly afraid. 

She was outclassed, he was on a completely different level from her. Only through the intervention of Rock Lee and later Gaara was Sakura able to be saved from being killed right then and there.

It would still often go through her head though, had she not been saved by the two of them, she would have no doubt not made it back to the village alive if at all even. 

She saw the look in that man’s eyes, he was completely devoted to Orochimaru. Nothing could sway him to forsake his devotion, even knowing Orochimaru would dispose of him once he had outlived his usefulness.

Sakura knew he would do the same to Sasuke, once he no longer had a use for the Uchiha. Sasuke was too blind to see that, blinded by hatred and an obsession with revenge.

What made Sakura feel worse is that by the time she found Naruto, he had been unconscious. He had failed to stop Sasuke. She had carried the boy home, sobbing over their failure to stop Sasuke. Once Kakashi had caught up with them, seeing the sobbing Sakura carrying Naruto on her back he knew the outcome of the mission. 

Of course Kakashi being Kakashi, tried to make light of the situation by noting how Sakura was very brave to even come along at all when virtually no one else had faith in her. The copy ninja even offered to carry Naruto home the rest of the way, but Sakura insisted on doing so herself, feeling it was the only time she could pull her weight on the whole mission.

Each member of the Sasuke Retrieval Squad was picked up one by one, with Choji Akimichi and Neji Hyuga both on the verge of death. Akamaru too, much to Kiba’s agony. She could see it in their eyes, they were all beaten, defeated. All Shikamaru had was a broken finger, which was at least enough to prove he tried.

Sakura on the other hand didn’t have a scratch on her, the team ended up protecting her throughout and she very nearly got killed by each of the Sound Five, all of them particularly targeting her knowing she was the weakest link.

Once everyone had miraculously recovered, Sakura vowed to Naruto she would catch up to him and the next time they pursued Sasuke, she would not be a burden.

___

It had been three long years since Naruto had left Konohagakure to train with Jiraiya. 

Sakura had not been presented many opportunities to showcase her training with Tsunade, the fifth Hokage. This had been largely in part to not being officially part of any team. Both of her teammates had left the village and even her sensei, Kakashi Hatake had been inexplicably called out on missions. This left her little time to train with him. While Tsunade’s training time was adequate, her Hokage duties did clash with their schedule. Sakura was far from rusty, but she did feel somewhat unprepared should another mission come to her.

Despite her lack of action, she had been selected to take part in the Chunin Exams once more, the only thing preventing her was the lack of a four-shinobi team. With the absence of her two teammates, she was not eligible to enter. 

She enjoyed a lovely bowl of ramen at Ichiraku’s. The food was as lovely as ever, but without her ramen addicted teammate it just wasn’t the same. That knuckle-head drove her insane, but nonetheless she still missed him.

“Hey, billboard brow!” A familiar voice called out as she was finishing her bowl. The ever irritable Sakura whipped around to see her rival Ino Yamanaka and her teammates Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi.

“Hey, Sakura,” Choji politely greeted.

Sakura let out a light scoff. “I would have thought you’d have outgrown that, Ino!”

“I couldn’t resist. That forehead is just too huge.”

“Yeah, not as huge as Choji’s--” Hastily Shikamaru covered the pink-haired girl’s mouth.

“You don’t wanna use the f-word around Choji,” he whispered.

“Wait which word?” Choji asked.

“Not important,” Shikamaru answered, uncovering Sakura’s mouth. “Anyway, we’re here because Ino and Choji are fitting to retake the Chunin Exams, but since I already passed they need an extra member. Care to take that spot, Sakura?”

Sakura just about leapt up in joy, her inner-self was shouting all the “Shannaros” one could shout. “Count me in! I won’t let you guys down!”

“Glad to hear, sign-ups are happening soon and the exam is in a week. From this moment on, until the exams conclude, I guess I’m your sensei. Don’t be late,” Shikamaru insisted.

Shikamaru had definitely taken his Chūnin role seriously. Failing his mission of retrieving Sasuke those three years ago strengthened his resolve. Nearly losing his best friend shook him up hard, Neji too. That witty sarcasm he possessed had long faded. In turn he had been pushing his teammates to train harder themselves.

___

The day of the exams came and Sakura met up with Team 10.

“You ready, Sakura?” Ino asked cheerfully.

“You bet I am! Just don’t fall behind!”

“Wouldn’t count on it!”

“I’m ready too!” Choji chimed in.

Sakura took a good look around, the site for the first exam was packed. “Wait, where’s Shikamaru?” She asked, noting the former slacker’s absence.

“Get this,” Choji said, enthusiastically. “He’s proctoring the exam!”

“Wait, what?!” Said a shocked Sakura.

“It’s true,” Ino chirped. “To think of all the people in the village to select, they pick him.”

“Lucky!”

The trio prepared for their first test, another written exam. Sakura knew this was a cakewalk for her. She had little to no trouble the last go around, so Ino could enter her mind, Sakura could grant her the answers and the blonde could pass them off to Choji no problem.

The plan worked with flying colors and no one seemed to even notice. The teams had to answer questions relating to how well they knew each other and naturally Sakura and Ino knew each other well enough, while Ino knew enough about Choji to tell Sakura the answers.

Then it came to the last question. “Which teammate would be used as a decoy?” Sakura knew it’d likely be her and was fully ready to place herself as the answer, but Ino knew the answer to the question; knowing full well only Shikamaru would come up with a question like that. She told Sakura if she had put down the answer she had planned on putting down, she would have been disqualified.

During the interlude between the first and second phase, Sakura beat herself up for nearly costing herself the exam.

“I can’t believe I missed that!” She sputtered. Ino placed her hand on the pink-haired girl’s shoulder.

“Don’t sweat it, sometimes Shikamaru’s tests throw off even the smartest, when that guy’s been your teammate for so long you expect him to throw a few curve balls. Besides, you helped us through the first part, without you we probably would've flunked.”

“Besides, it’s a team effort,” Choji added, snacking on chips as usual. “We’re all in this together.”

“But, I’m only a temporary member!” Sakura reminded them.

“Doesn’t matter,” Ino snarked. “You’re still a part of Team 10 at this point in time, so we are ‘temporarily’ (she said in air quotes) all in this together.”

Sakura’s confidence resurfaced, she was ready for the next exam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Miraculous Ladybug or Naruto Shippuden? Which one is in more of a desperate need of a rewrite? I thought about it and personally I would say Naruto Shippuden, hands down. While Miraculous IMO really only needs some tweaking and is still at least "good enough, but could be great" without it, Naruto Shippuden just about went completely off the rails early and went from bad to worse after Pain's Assault. It's something I would personally blow up and start over on rather than just adjust.
> 
> This will be Sakura's POV (most of the time at least). I'll likely have InoSaku become canon (I was debating between that and NaruSaku, but honestly I prefer InoSaku slightly more so it's decided). You'll get your shippy moments, but I'm not necessarily going to make that a major focus.


End file.
